Hard to Say Good-Bye
by Orange Ratchet
Summary: Timmy and Chloe go over to visit Catman for his birthday... only to find out that Catman is no longer here. How will they manage to cope with the fact that a once beloved TV actor friend of theirs is now gone?


Well, this story is a bit of a downer to write... but when I heard the news recently, I knew it had to be done. There are some famous roles he was known for in the late days, from Batman to the sixties, to being more hammy in his voice actor work, he always will be remembered. And even though his character from THIS particular show was replaced by someone else, he was the voice of the character in the early seasons... and well... no further delaying it. Let's just sit back...

* * *

"I am not going over there!"

"Come on, Timmy, I know he's a little loopy, but he's still our friend... even if he can be a bit of an annoyance..."

This was the sound of two arguing kids who were walking the streets, down to a large household with a sign that said "It's A Wrap Retirement Community". And the two kids arguing happened to be Timmy Turner and Chloe Carmichael themselves, the latter holding a few presents, and the former holding a birthday card, being embarrassed about this.

"Just so you know, you tricked me with the sad doughy eyes." Timmy frowned, rolling his eyes.

"I know he can be weird and dangerous at times, but think of all the good times he was with you." Chloe smiled.

Timmy opened his mouth... and paused as he thought about it. "You may have a point. Even if he was a bit loopy, he is still my friend... in a way. Just promise me that after we deliver his presents that I choose the movie we go to."

"Deal." Chloe said as both kids arrived, Timmy opening the door and coming in. One of the nurses sitting behind the desk was working when she noticed the two kids coming in. She smiled a bit upon seeing them come up.

"Why hello there! May I be of assistance to you?" The nurse smiled.

"Yes, we're here to see an old friend of ours. We came over to wish him happy birthday." Chloe smiled.

"Isn't that sweet? And who's the lucky birthday man?" The nurse said, trying to find his name on the computer.

"He probably has his name down as 'Catman'." Timmy rolled his eyes.

The nurse stopped typing in sudden shock, turning to the kids, still with the same shocked face. "Catman?"

"Well, technically, he's Adam West, but if I know him, he's probably running around being Catman." Timmy rolled his eyes.

"Oh my..." The nurse gasped in horror, looking at the two kids, who only looked at the nurse in confusion.

"Is something wrong?" Timmy asked, not liking the uncomfortable face being held by the nurse.

"I-I'm afraid Catman's not here." The nurse said in worry.

Timmy frowned as he rolled his eyes. "Oh, typical. He's probably going around, taking care of a crime that isn't really a crime and all that... well, I better get my lawyer suit ready..."

"No, no, you don't understand. I mean, he hasn't been here in a few months." The nurse explained. "He's gone."

"Gone?" Chloe asked. "What do you mean by, gone?"

"Gone, as in expired. I'm surprised you didn't watch the news, it was all over the present media a couple months back." The nurse explained.

"We...haven't been paying attention much to the news lately. We've had our minds on other things." Timmy said, recalling a little adventure that he, Chloe, Cosmo and Wanda had a couple months ago.

"By expired... do you mean..." Chloe whispered. The nurse slowly nodded as Chloe gasped in horror.

"All right, just tell us where he is so that I can w- I mean, maybe we can bail him out." Timmy said.

"No, Timmy, listen. Catman's not here. He's not amongst the living anymore. He's..." Chloe looked down. "...he's dead."

That caught Timmy's attention as he dropped the birthday card he had in his hand. "Wh-what?"

Timmy's wide-eyed expression slowly turned to shock, then horror, and then sadness as he looked over at the nurse's office. "H-how? Why?"

"A few months back, Catman was diagnosed with leukemia. He didn't want to tell anyone about it, because he felt determined that he would survive. Unfortunately, he didn't win." The nurse sighed. "He kept pretending to be Catman for a while, but during the final days, his heart wasn't into it. He even started sitting down regularly, like a normal person."

"Catman... acting normal?" Timmy asked.

"It was hard to believe, we know... but maybe he realized that his battle was one he couldn't win against, it was almost like, he wanted to accept it. The last day before his death, he donated the costume privately to someone else, somehow feeling his time was close to up. And the next morning, he was in his bed, curled up in a ball like a cat, without the costume. He died peacefully." The nurse looked down.

Timmy and Chloe looked at each other as tears started to form around the pink hatted boy's eyes. Timmy's voice faltered as he said, sadly. "Th-that's not even fair. Why did he have to go?"

"Timmy... I'm sorry." Chloe looked down sadly. "I-I didn't know he-"

"We both didn't know..." Timmy looked down... and held his head. "If I had known, I would have spent a little time with him! This-this..."

"I know..." The nurse sighed. "I'm sorry. I know this is a lot to take in..."

"It's... it's hard to believe, but... I was one of his close friends." Timmy said as he looked up. "Yeah, he may have been a bit crazy, but he was still a good friend of mine."

"I may have known him for about a year, but being with him, he wasn't too bad." Chloe said. "I just wish we spent more time with him..."

The nurse paused as she looked over. "You know, we haven't quite cleared out his old room yet... mostly because his will indicated that his room not be torned down until a certain pink hatted kid came by. I take it you must be Timmy Turner?"

Timmy looked up at the nurse as he slowly nodded. The nurse got up. "Follow me."

* * *

Almost immediately, the door to Catman's old room was opened as Timmy and Chloe stepped inside. Somehow, it felt pretty quiet, like... it wasn't the same without hearing Catman scratch his scratching post or rambling about a villain on the loose. They looked around the room, the old computers that have now shut down, the bed that Catman had scratched the linens on, and even his pictures were settled in a corner.

Timmy paused as he looked towards the pictures that were taken... as Timmy smiled a bit, looking at them. The first picture was a picture in a newspaper article, showing Catman handing Timmy's Dad the trophy for winning the Miss Dimmsdale pageant. The second picture depicted Catman in the comics fighting alongside the Crimson Chin. The third picture indicated Catman's time as an exterminator. The fourth picture showed Timmy and a young Catman (as a kid) hanging out together (his face gave a small smile upon looking at it), followed shortly by Catman going up against Dogman... then another picture depicting him as Ratman. The final pictures Timmy had noticed had him working with Chloe wearing her Catgirl outfit (much to the girl in the picture's unamusement), a picture of him, Timmy's Dad and Timmy himself making their movie, and the final picture showed Catman going up against Mouse Man.

Timmy just sighed as he put the last of the photos back on the desk as he sighed as Chloe noticed something sticking out of the drawer near the cabinet. She pulled out the item in question as she looked at it. She gasped as she looked over towards Timmy, who was just looking down, sad. Chloe quickly ran over to Timmy and tapped him on the shoulder.

Timmy looked over to see his best friend holding up a letter that said 'TO TIMMY TURNER' on the envelope. Curious, Timmy took the letter from Chloe's hands and opened it, before pulling out the letter as he started to read it.

 _Hello, Timmy..._

 _If you've found this letter and currently reading it, that means that I never got the chance to tell you about my condition... which, in retrospect, I should have, but I didn't want you to be depressed if I told you otherwise. In case you haven't read the news if you're reading it now, I had a case of leukemia. And at first, I was confident that I would live through it, just fight through the disease and carry on with my life..._

 _But things started to change for me, now Timmy. See, I may be Catman, but deep down, I know that I'm still Adam West, and I may have done a lot of crazy things in my time, but I was glad to do them. I don't have any regrets on being a superhero, even if I wasn't the hero people needed. But that's just it. I may have been a hero, but I'm also mortal. Nobody lives forever, I realize that... and the more I started thinking about it, the more I reaiized that maybe it was close to my time, even if I didn't want it. Another thing you have to understand is that I'm also getting old, and while I would LOVE to make a comeback on television... I feel that may not be the case anymore._

 _So, I decided to just spend the last days of my life as Adam West... don't get me wrong, I love being Catman... but at the same time, I knew that the character I loved playing as needed to retire, so I plan to donate my costume to a museum, hopefully it'll show future generations that this suit was once donned by a good actor._

 _Aside from that, I still remember all the good times we had, Timmy. And I want to thank you... for being my lawyer, for helping me get back on my feet... and for being my friend. I know I don't write to others much, but I feel that you have made a bit of an impact for me for the last couple of years. As Catman or Adam West... I really felt like you were someone important._

 _Also, I know that I have made mistakes in my time, and even though I have mistaken your friend as my sidekick, she was still a pretty good sidekick. So, maybe you can tell her that I am grateful for her as well. Thanks, friend._

 _That said, though, Timmy, you're a great kid, and I hope you grow up to become something even greater. And even though I know someone else will don the Catman suit, just know that the days wearing the suit were the greatest... and being your friend was even greater than that._

 _Thanks for the memories..._

Timmy noticed that Catman's alter ego name was starting to be written, before it was crossed out, before Catman's signature was added. Timmy could only look at the letter and then look around at the empty room. Chloe put a hand on Timmy's shoulder, as she did the same thing.

Even though Timmy knew that Catman wasn't coming back, deep down, he knew that he wasn't gone... but will always be in his memories. His eyes gleamed a bit as he turned to Chloe, both of them looking straight into each other's eyes. With a silent nod, they turned away and left Catman's empty room, Timmy carefully shutting the door behind him.

* * *

 **Dedicated to Adam West**

 **September 19, 1928-June 9, 2017**

* * *

Like I said, when I heard the news, I knew I had to write a fanfiction about it... and yes, it is sad to see Adam West gone before his time... but we'll always remember the good days... anyway, thank you all for reading this, and my condolences to Adam West.


End file.
